WHO WAS VERA ERIKSON?

Vera's fate was never disclosed at the time and has been the subject of much speciulation and discussion ever since. The declassification by the National Archives in January 1999 of papers relating to the case provided new information about the life and times of Vera Erikson. Although investigators have found her story to be contradictory in many places and there are a number of 'problems' with the story.

A picture which it has been claimed is of Vera as a child (right).

Vera was born in 1907, although many accounts give a date in December 1912 as the daughter of August Theodor Schalburg (a Dane) and his wife, Jelena Startiskaja (or Staritska) von Siemanovska, who was of the Polish-Ukrainian gentry and whose family had large estates in the Ukraine. However, an alternative account of Vera suggests that that she was born in Kiev as late as 1914 of Jewish extraction and was adopted by a White Russian family.The most credible account of her origins (and later life)comes from an interview between Erik Haaest, the controversial Danish author and journalist and Helle von Bülow, the widow of Christian Frederik von Schalburg, Obersturmbannführer of Frikorpset Danmark, in 1975. The level of corroboration in this interview would seem to indicate that Vera was Christian's younger sister and that she was indeed born in December 1912 as the daughter of August Schalburg and Jelena Startiskaja.Vera's early life is similarly shrouded in some mystery. The family settled in Jutland after the Russian Revolution but later she appears in both Paris and Brussels. It appears she trained as a ballet dancer and eventually ended up dancing at the Folies Bergeres. It has been suggested that, in 1930, aged 18, she married Count Sergei Ignatieff, a member of an important aristocratic Russian family that had fallen on hard times since their exile after the Russian Revolution. It is said that he was an unscrupulous double agent who was involved in drug trafficking and appears to have been the driving force behind her involvement in spying.

A report prepared by MI5 said that he had a hold over her "He was a cocaine addict, a pervert and actively engaged in espionage for the White Russians". Vera became his courier, carrying parcels around Europe. Vera and Ignatieff lived together as man and wife for only a year but their association is said to have lasted for several years. In 1935, whilst the lived in Brussels, Ignatieff tried to stab her to death when she threatened to stop spying on Communists. However, some accounts of Vera's life fail to make any reference to Ignatieff. At this point it appears that the Germans stepped in and that she was recruited to the Abwehr. Some accounts suggest that she "remarried" around 1937. The name suggested for this "second husband" Hans Friedrich von Wedel. However, others have posited the idea that this was a code name for Hilmar Dierks whose mistress she was believed to be. Some investigators suggest that in 1938 the couple were sent to Britain where they were to form relationships with German agents, German sympathisers and other influential people. A "Major Mackenzie" has been mentioned by some. During this time it has even been suggested that Erikson had a child, a son, but the evidence here is limited. Von Wedel is said to have died in a car crash in 1940 (perhaps the same one as killed the leader of the expedition in September 1940?).

Hilmar Dierks

Vera photographed shortly after her arrest in Port Gordon in 1940.

Vera's brother, Christian Frederik von Schalburg, had served in the Royal Danish Life Guards where he was ultimately described as being 'unstable'. He displayed some notably extreme right-wing and anti-Semitic views during his time in the army.Later, he headed the youth branch of the National Socialist Workers' Party of Denmark. In September 1940, at exactly the time Vera's mission took place, he joined the Waffen SS. He eventually became SS-Obersturmbannführer of Frikorpset Danmark (which he had been instrumental in creating). Christian Frederik von Schalburg was killed in action on the Eastern Front, on 2 June 1942.

Her time in jail following her capture was not happy and it is known that she induced a miscarriage; the father is believed to be Karl Drucke. Perhaps the child she may have had previous played some role in her never standing trial. Perhaps she passed on information which was helpful to the allied cause. The latter would appear to be the most likely explanation. She is said to have spent time with an MI5 agent and his wife, widely believed to be Klop Ustinov (the father of Peter). Here it was observed she was suffering from serious depression. Although the agent warmed to her and said that he did not consider her "wanton and found her extremely modest in person". All files have been released by the National Archives and the only extractions protect the names of British Personnel. After the end of the war, it is said that was deported back to Germany. Here she ought to have been monitored by the military authorities but, because of an administrative blunder, she vanished and was never hear of again.

Klop Ustinov

This may not, however, entirely represent the truth. There seems to be a body of evidence that points to Vera being given a new identity and living the rest of her life in the South of England. In the interview in 1975, Helle von Bülow, the widow of Christian Frederik von Schalburg, sometime Commander of Frikorps Danmark, spoke of being in regular letter contact with Christian's sister Vera who lives in England and that she had been interned for spying during the War but afterwards married and lived quietly as a mother and grandmother. However, the author of this interview has proved to be unreliable and therefore the credibility of this remark (and indeed whether Helle von Schalburg ever made) is questionable. A number of websites indicate that she may have lived under the name Vera de Witte and that she died, in England, in 1993 but none provide clear unambiguous evidence to support this.

Helle von Schalburg (née von Bulow) widow of Christian Frederik von Schalburg, Vera's elder brother. Picture 1975.
The details below are taken from that interview and make mention of Vera as living in England.

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